When Borussia Dortmund appointed Dutchman Peter Bosz as Thomas Tuchel's successor it felt like the right move considering his achievements in Ajax and his early season form in Dortmund (won first seven games ) but fast forward to Wednesday night against Real Madrid and it is clear Bosz appears to lack the tactical knowledge required to upset the European heavyweights.
In a group that had the likes of Tottenham, Real Madrid and Apoel Nicossa one would had thought that BVB would have performed better than their two points from six games finishing on the same point with the Cypriot side and unable to beat them in two games.
Against Real In the final game, BVB must be commended from coming from two goals down to level up but all that counts for nothing after Bosz was awfully exposed after his bizzar substitutions. Starting with a 3-4-3 on paper which was 5-4-1 when without the ball, BVB had the tools to hurt Madrid with quick and direct players in Emerick Aubameyang, Purisic and Shinji Kagawa. With Madrid pushing forward on the flanks most often , center-backs Sergio Ramos and Rafeal Varane were often exposed. Although starting Marc Bartra as a right wing back was shocking , the former Barcelona defender was not disappointing, often staying back to force Christiano Ronaldo to the middle and acting as a fifth defender for his side .
While one cannot compare the attacking twlrhrs of both sides , Bosz showed too much respect to Madrid considering he tried to play for a draw rather than going for the win despite the wave of attacks after their equaliser. With Schuller and Yamelenko on the bench, the Dutchman opted to substitute Nuri Sahin with a similar Julien Weigl who failed to stamp his authority on the game as Madrid played a high line defence often using the wings evidenced by their superior crosses. Having watched Purisic tear apart Madrid's defence with his quick feet and runs (10 attempted take one, five successful), it would have seemed logical that Bartra was withdrawn for Yamelenko on the wings to push Madrid deep , Kagawa shifted to central midfield to pair Dahoud with Schurlle coming in to play on the other flank as his runs and ability to cut and shoot or loft the ball for Aubameyang to finish would have been more logical .
So what did Bosz really do when Madrid continued to press for the winner? The Dutchman brought in Weigl to shore up central midfield which Madrid bypassed most of the time as well as bringing on another centre-back in Toprak which really made no sense. Understandably, the events of the 4-4 Rhine derby might still be haunting the Dutchman after Dortmund lost a 4 goal lead to draw with Schalke yet he has to realise that he didn't need to defend in this particular game as he had nothing to lose (already out of the completion) and had the talents to hurt Madrid.
For now BVD have to concentrate on a lesser Europa League as Bosz hopes to steady they ship considering how poor their form has been this season .
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